The present invention relates to an fluoropolymer-acrylic plastic composites and a coextrusion for producing them.
Plastic composites have a wide variety of applications, particularly in the building and automotive fields. These composites can find use in seals, liners and gaskets for doors, windows and building or assembly sections. In these uses, it is important that the particular composite have and maintain the appropriate characteristics (hardness, strength, flexibility, expansion, and dimensional characteristics).
Such applications usually involve outdoor use or other exposure to environments which accelerate polymer degradation. Polymer degradation can cause loss in color, stability, flexibility and/or strength. Sunlight or other light sources can breakdown polymers as can exposure to water- or air-borne caustic materials, such as acids, salts, and organic solvents. Accordingly, it is desirable to be able to produce plastic composites that will have the desired strength, flexibility, expansion and dimensional stability characteristics, while being resistant to the degrading aspects of its application environment.
The development of fluoropolymers greatly increased the resistance to degradation for polymers containing them. Examples of such fluoropolymers are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,253,060 to Koblitz et al., 3,458,391 to Miller, 3,523,906 to Schmitt et al., 3,769,371 to Nersasian, 3,779,976 to De Marisco et al., 3,895,029 to Ward, 3,944,689 to Luckock et al., 4,123,401 to Berghmans et al., 4,221,757 to Strassel, 4,226,904 to Ollivier et al., 4,281,492 to Schock et al., 4,291,099 to Strassel, 4,364,886 to Strassel, 4,404,247 to Dominguez-Burguette et al., 4,415,519 to Strassel, 4,424,292 to Rabinovitch, 4,557,977 to Memmer et al., 4,581,412 to Ohmori et al., 4,585,701 to Bartoszek et al., 4,728,677 to Lacatus et al., 4,776,913 to Goossens et al., 4,824,911 to Chu, 4,877,839 to Conti-Ramsden et al., 4,927,675 to Adams et al., all of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference. However, fluoropolymers are relatively expensive when compared to non-fluoropolymers such as acrylic polymers and polyvinylchlorides. Thus it is desirable to produce a polymer composite which will yield the advantages of fluoropolymers while minimizing the total fluoropolymer content so that a polymeric material can be made cost effective for a wide variety of uses, particularly in the areas described above.
Other advantages and benefits of the present invention will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in light of the present disclosure and the practice of the invention.